About Rajendra Singh

Summary:
Evidenced & demonstrable career of profitable start up, turnaround of under performing business, market share transformation & team building in diverse industries, and competitive markets.
Collaborated, strategized & executed successful financial return on 12 billion + USD capital expenditure over last 15 years.
Expanded the limits & Ingrained more than 5% market share in business cycle of 2 years, 12 times in 3 industries towards lasting & profitable value creation & never lost market share in a quarter.
Professional LinkedIn Profile is as follows in.linkedin.com/in/rajendrakumarsingh/
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It’s widely believed that the most successful entrepreneurs are young. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg were in their early twenties when they launched what would become world-changing companies. Do these famous cases reflect a generalizable pattern?

In fact, the average age of entrepreneurs at the time they founded their companies is 42.

But what about the most successful startups? Is it possible that companies started by younger entrepreneurs are particularly successful? Research shows that among the top 0.1% of startups based on growth in their first five years, the founders started their companies, on average, when they were 45 years old.

Usain St Leo Bolt OJ CD is a Jamaican retired sprinter and world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay. His reign as Olympic Games champion in all of these events spans three Olympics.

Football and sprint both use huge amount of legs. By all accounts Usain Bolt has strong and fast legs, brilliant athletic brain, proven record of successful competition at the highest level.

But he has confessed that he is struggling in football- the new game he has adopted after retiring from sprints. He is practicing hard. He is improving his fitness in” football” though he knows fast running better than any football player. At the height of 1.95 m and weight of 94 kg, he is strong and formidable; quick and agile. But his ” football fitness” is low, much lower than average club football player.

It means if you are great in one or similar field, you wont necessarily be great in similar field. It means you will have to train and adopt and achieve adaptation in a new field- you have the advantage of being excellent in similar other field, but you will have to learn the new field like any newcomer.

This is applicable in many fields. Sports, athletics, football and business.

This is why being great in one field is praiseworthy but being quick to learn new field and being ready to go through the drills of learning/training in a new field is a far greater virtue and quality. In ever changing world things are not same all the time- they change and we are suddenly facing a new situation.

I, for one, always give higher preference & far greater importance to a person’s ability to learn new things quickly and give higher weightage than her/his previous accomplishments. Previous laurels do prove the person mastered something in past, does give hope that a person can learn new things but nothing more .

This has been the main point of my recruitment and promotion of more than 10,000 professional in the past- Respect and acknowledgement for the ability to learn and master new competencies because rising to the occasion in a new field and situation is exceptional. More often a person does it , far more exceptional and unique the professional is.

Usain Bolt in sprints was great, if he becomes great in football too, he will be far greater.

I am sure you have your inputs and experiences. I would like to learn from them.

5. Calculate Market Demand for 1st 3 years for 3G/4G devices eg 45% of users. 1 per individual basis or 135 Million

6. Calculate rate of market entry per year for 1st 3 years eg 15%

7. Prioritize Segment eg Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards at 5, 15, 25, 35, 20 % respectively. Focus on Innovators, Early Adopters & Early Majority first, amongst them on those who currently have Smartphone and are willing to replace/substitute.

My Question: Dave, how would you like to advise handling ‘’Strategy & Business Transformation alignment with Brand Perspective in times of Social Media ”?

Answer by David Aaker

Brand Preference vs. Brand Relevance

My book Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevantdiscusses two ways to compete. The first is to win the brand preference competition by making a brand preferred over other brands in an established category or subcategory. The second is to win the brand relevance competition by creating new categories or subcategories for which competitors are irrelevant. These two routes to winning are very different in terms of strategy and ability to deal with market dynamics.

The first and most commonly used route to winning focuses on generating brand preference among the choices considered by customers, on beating the competition. A consumer decides to buy an established product category or subcategory such as SUVs. Several brands, perhaps Lexus, BMW, and Cadillac, have the visibility and credibility to be considered. A brand, perhaps Cadillac, is then selected. Winning involves making sure that Cadillac is preferred to Lexus and BMW which usually means being superior in at least one of the dimensions defining the category or subcategory and being at least as good as competitors in the rest.

The brand preference strategy involves incremental innovation to make the brand ever more attractive or reliable or the offering less costly. Faster, cheaper, better is the mantra. Resources are expended on communicating more effectively with more clever advertising, more impactful promotions, more visible sponsorships, and more involving social media programs but such efforts rarely break out of the clutter. There is a focus and commitment on the existing offering, business model, and target segment. Improvement is the goal but change is not on the table.

This classic brand preference model is an increasingly difficult path to success in today’s dynamic market because customers are not inclined or motivated to change brand loyalties in established markets. Brands are perceived to be similar at least with respect to the delivery of functional benefits, and often these perceptions are accurate. As a result, customers are not motivated to learn about or locate alternatives. Further, even when the offering is improved or effective marketing is developed, competitors usually respond with such speed and vigor so that any advantage is often short-lived. As a result a brand preference strategy is usually a recipe for stressed margins, unsatisfactory profitability, and, ultimately, a decline into irrelevance. It is so not fun.

The second route to competitive success is to change what people buy by creating new categories or subcategories that alter the way that existing customers look at the purchase decision and use experience. Under brand relevance competition, the customer selects the category or subcategory, perhaps a compact hybrid, making the starting place very different. The selection of the category or subcategory is now a crucial step that will influence what brands get considered and thus are relevant. The customer then identifies brands that are visible and credible to that category or subcategory. The brand set is more in play than under the brand preference model. There might be only a single brand that makes the consideration set, perhaps a Prius.

A relevant brand for a customer is one for which the target category or subcategory is selected and the brand is in the consideration set.

Winning under the brand relevance model, now very different, is based on being selected because competitors were not relevant rather than not preferred, a qualitatively different reason. Some or all competitor brands are not visible and credible with respect to the new category or subcategory. The result can be a market in which there is no competition at all for an extended time or one in which the competition is reduced or weakened, the ticket to ongoing financial success.

The brand relevance strategy involves transformational or substantial innovation to create offerings so innovative that new categories or subcategories are created. It involves an organizational ability to sense changes in the marketplace and its customers, an ability to commit to a new concept and bring it to market, and a willingness to take risks by going outside the comfort zone represented by the existing target market, value proposition, and business model.

The payoff of operating with no or little competition is huge. It is econ 101. Consider the Chrysler minivan introduced as the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan in 1982 which sold 200,000 during the first year and 12.5 million to date. For 16 years Chrysler had no viable competitor in part because it continuously innovated behind the product but also because competitors had other priorities.

In addition to numerous case studies there is empirical evidence that creating new categories or subcategories pay off. Perhaps the most robust law in marketing is that new product success is correlated with how differentiated they are and a highly differentiated offering is likely to define a new category or subcategory. A McKinsey study is one of many that supports. It showed that new entrants into a market which likely involve a high percentage of new categories or subcategories had a return premium of 13 points the first year sliding to one percent in the tenth year.

Brand relevance competition, when it works, is more profitable and more fun.

Clayton Christensen

2011 Ranking: #1

Shortlisted: 2013 Thinkers50 Best Book Award

Winner: 2011 Thinkers50 Innovation Award

One of the world’s pre-eminent experts on innovation, Clayton Christensen topped the Thinkers50 in 2011 and now 2013. He is the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation and growth. He is also founder of Innosight, a consulting firm that uses his theories to help companies create new growth businesses.

His seminal work, The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), received the Global Business Book Award for the best business book of the year. It has been followed by The Innovator’s Solution (2003); Seeing What’s Next (2004); Disrupting Class (2008) looking at the root causes of why schools struggle and offering solutions; The Innovator’s Prescription (2009) examining how to fix the US healthcare system;The Innovators’ DNA (2011); and The Innovative University (2011).

Christensen’s most recent book, How Will You Measure Your Life: Finding Fulfillment Using Lessons from Some of the World’s Greatest Businesses (2012), co-authored with James Allworth and Karen Dillon, was nominated for the Thinkers50 Best Book Award in 2013.

Hope you read our earlier 2 blogs (1.4G services – market opportunities and implications 2. As a small medium business why should I blog? ROI Rationale), asked questions from us (and got proper replies), shared 4G blogs with your friends and family. From the comments and questions on our earlier 2 blogs and through the analysis of multi various social feeds e gather that the most important question in the minds of various voice and data users is: is 4G for me? Do I go ahead and use G over 2G, 1X, EVDO, 3G, etc? To answer this question you can go through our 3rd blog. We assume you have already used various voice and data services for over 1 year period.

Understand who you are, what are your needs etc. For this please identify at least 2 other persons who know you well and who have also been using voice and data services for at least 1 year. With their help try to write down your own persona, the way you are likely to be most of the times. It will be primarily your own thoughts, words and descriptions aided by at least 2 more your close persons. Be as honest as possible and take maximum of 200 words to write your persona.

We have enclosed 2 personas for you and your chosen persons’ kind reference.

Consider what is your budget; at monthly and yearly level. Just put a monthly and yearly figure you are comfortable with. This will give an idea whether the 4G services are really comfortable for you.

Ask more questions from us after completing steps 1&2 or fill out 4G ownership questionnaire which is downloadable from our website. Fill up the questionnaire, either do self test or send the filled up questionnaire to us and we will revert with your persona/profile in 2 working days. You can ask your chosen friends and family to follow same process.

We are keen that you choose 4G services wisely and properly. You should have the ‘Aha’ and ‘Wow’ moments from 4G choice.

Still have a question or suggestion? Do write your comments here and we will be happy to get an answer from us or the community of this blog on 4G services.

We promise to reward best 100 questions, suggestions, comments or answers through a special mobile app which you can download on the device of your choice. This selection will be done by the number of likes and net of positive/negative remarks on each one of your posts by the blog community members. Since there has to be a final authority on the selection, we take the responsibility for the same. In future through a designated panel from this community such final selections could be moderated but as you imagine that has to be after some time with information to you at this forum.

Now you can go ahead and decide “Is 4G for me?” and take the listed steps in this blog.

Attachments

Two Developed Persona

1. Sheela is an entrepreneur. She has started her own modern retail outlets which keep various general household products. She has competition from other nearby retail outlets. She along with other outlets caters to a micro market having population of 150,000.

Sheela has 2 kids, her husband is a consultant and travels a lot. Her husband’s parents also live with them. Sheela’s parents live 200 km. away. Her father is a successful businessman. She did her Masters in biotechnology. After that she worked for 5 years and then she started her own company for distribution and retail. She is 35 year old, very religious and social in attitude. She has a team of about 1150 people and she tries to manage this team as a family. She has 3G services for her own use and CDMA services for her office, staff and business. She has a website and participates in social media. She has been approached by various retailers to start an ecommerce venture which will need secure, modern and contemporary service like 4G.

Sheela is now better off and in last 2 years she has been earning 200k dollars annual income and her husband has consistent income of about 40k dollars annual income for last 10 years. Sheela is a risk taker and always wants best service from her vendors. She has excellent understanding of B2B , B2C and C2C websites. She is fond of Apple and Nokia brands. Lately she has been using Android a lot and likes the new applications of Android very fascinating.

2.Tapan is a middle level working professional in a big technology company which deals in B2B and B2C both.

Tapan is 36 year old, Masters in Electronics Engineering and MBA in Marketing. He was in Malaysia and Singapore for 5 years. He has been recently transferred to India to look after a new business in financial services. He is married. His wife is a housewife and they have one school going son. His wife is a vegetarian and he is not. Normally they eat out and their best meal is dinner which they try to take together outside.

Tapan travels 50 km. every day for work and has lot of friends and family in India and outside. He is considered a very strong technology person in his friend as well as professional circle. He normally goes in to depth of issues and his views are based on logic. When he gives his opinion people take that seriously.

Tapan blogs extensively on varied subjects. He has above average understanding of web and frequently uses various sites.He also participates in religious functions though his wife is not very religion minded. As a family they are approachable and travel a lot for social as well as professional services. He makes 75k dollars per annum.

Tapan is always looking out for new brands and monitors the evolution of a new brand closely He is fond of Sony and Toyota as these brands are popular across many nations.

You have a valid question. More so when you have 4G, great smart phones and latest tablets. You have been using voice and data for years and have been rightly wondering to use blog or not. You have concerns regarding ROI from blogging.

Opportunity Cost (If I don’t blog, what do I do, and use of resources is what? How valued? or being paid for the time saved due to not blogging by doing something else: If it is more than 60,000 USD you can add the differential to total cost because either we should take cost of time or opportunity and delta in case the opportunity cost is higher)

Benefits (ROI) from Blogging

4 values to be considered:

1. Comparative Value: The value f asset created through Blogs. A number of tools help here: Simply Google blog worth or blog value; and get tools that user either uses in bound links or number of visitors, blog growth, feed subscribers and so on, to compute comparative value of blogs.

2. Direct Value: Make money off your blog through AdSense or other services to display alongside your blog or maintain a job board, place ads in their feeds, find related business, gain referral or recommendations etc.

4. Unquantifiable value: On the blog email address, phone number etc are mentioned. Many people may write and can start a new relationship which was not possible otherwise. It can turn into happiness, joy, satisfaction of business which was not otherwise likely.

In nutshell, through business blogs 6 business metrics can be achieved.

a) Raw author contribution

b) Audience Growth

c) Conversation Rate

d) Citation/Ripple index

e) Costs

f) Benefits

As long as the costs are less than benefits and joy/happiness more than pain, the ROI of blogging is positive. By putting exact values one can calculate ROI = {(Profit -Cost)/Cost} X 100

Costs and benefits are already explained. The other 4 metrics are explained hereunder:

1. Raw author contributions or do I deserve to be successful?

Posts per month = # of posts / # of months

Content created = # of words in a post / # of posts

It can be calculated in WordPress by downloading relevant plug-in or use Joost’s plug-in if there are more than 1 author on the blog site.

2) Holistic audience growth or is anyone reading my content? This can be calculated from the RSS feeds sign up by the readers, then tools like FeedBurner can compute offsite audience growth (RSS subscribers).

3) Conversation ratio or are we having a conversation?

Conversation rate = # of visitor comments/# of posts. One can also look into positive, negative, neutral conversation as well as net promoter score, etc. One can also apply detailed text and sentiment analytics for digging deeper values.

4) Citations and Ripple Index or Are people talking about my blog/me/my company? Am I causing any ripple?

Citation metrics

Technorati Authority (the number of unique blogs that link to your blog in last 6 months)

Tweet Citations (A measure of how many people tweet about your post)

Authority of blog will measure the number of blogs that have discussed something related to your blog and linked back to you.

Tweettheme helps to compute ripple caused by tweets of people who have link to an individual post, talked about it and passed it on to others.

The other benefits are the cross connection of various SM efforts where integrated marketing helps better. In this connection Blogs bring in value like diamond in the crown, the value which is brought in by an effective blogs increases the sum total of total value and effectiveness. Blogs add gross value in a way which makes all other Social Media and even traditional media become more effective as well as rewarding.

Conclusion

Blogging is the central tool and the hub of your digital media marketing plan. The way you are responsible for your small medium business, same way your blog will take care of deeper questions while leading your own digital media marketing efforts. Blag can easily connect with your Social Media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Email etc.

Blog will provide you a superb opportunity to improve your search engine optimization ranking, will work as a hub to the spokes of social media and digital marketing efforts. Blog will give you an opportunity to engage with your stakeholders in an interactive way.

Do write your comments about the usefulness of blogs in your business, forward this blog to your friends and family.